


What the hell is that?

by areyoukiddingme



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, Fantasy, Relationship Development, Romance, dragon - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-12
Updated: 2017-01-14
Packaged: 2018-09-17 03:06:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9301262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/areyoukiddingme/pseuds/areyoukiddingme
Summary: The person next door has a dragon. I'm not quite sure why or how, but there's definitely one there.Written from a male POV. No reference to pre-existing characters, just a fun little fic exploring the idea.





	1. Chapter 1

A moving truck pulled outside my house. Finally, someone had taken that old place next door after it had been empty since I’d moved here. Being nosy and not needing to rush off anywhere, I kept staring outside; I could only make out one person actually moving in, a young woman. All of the others looked like the moving men but I wasn’t quite sure and I didn't want to appear judgmental if one of them knocked at the door and I assumed they were being paid by her. A lot of noise and bustle later they all seemed to leave apart from the girl, affirming my suspicions. The only odd thing I spotted amongst her possessions was a large wooden crate, far too big for anything... normal. Maybe an old heirloom, I pondered.

I managed to distract myself enough that I actually managed to forget about my new neighbour for the next two days, I grew so accustomed to seeing a car in the drive and hearing the occasional noise next door that she completely blended into the scenery of my everyday life. That is, until she knocked at my door late that evening.

"Hello?" I asked, opening the door, seeing the woman holding something in her hands. She looked different close up, somehow more striking when I wasn’t peering at her creepily behind a curtain. She was ginger and pale with large, witchy green eyes and freckles scattered over her nose.

"Hello, I'm Iris. I just moved in and, um-" She nervously thrust her hands forward, showing me a perfectly iced cake which she was offering to me.

"Shouldn't I be offering you the cake?" I joked, taking the plate off of her subtly trembling hands.

"Yeah, well. I came to you because I'm not sure about the other people on our street..."

"Yeah, you made the right choice. Person opposite opposite's a drunk and the one next door is a crazy cat lady." I smiled at her nerves and leaned casually against the doorway in an attempt to make the meeting less formal.

"Thank goodness I came to you then. It's good to have a friend.” She gushed, a brief silence before she spoke again. “What's your name?"

"Oh, Danny." I sputtered quickly, caught off-guard by the question. She smiled genuinely, backing out of the drive.

"I'll see you around then Danny."

"Yeah, see you. Iris." I called after her, taking my gift inside. I smiled at the plate, warmed by her kindness so rarely shown, especially not in mere neighbours.

* * *

Over the next few months Iris moved in properly, leaving for her new-found work before me so I saw her get into her car every morning while I was brushing my teeth. I brought back her plate and complimented her baking skills to which she blushed and expressed how glad she was I enjoyed it. But just like the huge crate outside when she moved, there was always an air of mystery surrounding this woman. For instance, there was _a lot_ of smashing sounds coming from her house. And not just when she was in. I thought a pet may explain this but I didn’t once see her take a dog out for a walk and anyway, I was sure the person who rented her the house didn't allow pets.

Furthermore, the back garden that she now owned had always been hugely overgrown as no-one had lived there for years. I thought that she might try to control this jungle of a lawn, but she barely touched it. She carefully made sure nothing was hanging over onto my lawn, but other than that, nothing. Unusually, all of the back gardens on our street led onto a protected woodland which was practically on our doorsteps, just beyond the perimeter of our gardens and every now and again I saw her walk into the garden, always covered by the almost enchanted-looking trees, and sneak into the forest. It wasn’t unusual for people on our street to go into the forest as it was so close, but it _was_ unusual for someone to have to _sneak_ there. The only way I spotted her was thanks to her bright yellow raincoat which she never seemed to be without.

This kept occurring and I kept watching her, growing more and more curious every time she went out. So one day I grabbed my coat and followed after her.

I unlatched my gate silently before stepping into the forest which I barely frequented and followed after the flash of yellow, drawing my coat closer around me as I did so. After a few minutes of plodding along, the forest opened up into a clearing and I peered out at her from behind a tree. What I saw made me stop in my tracks. She was stroking something, cooing at something, but it wasn't the dog I suspected. It was large and shimmering and looked like some kind of lizard but it was huge and alien looking, not quite right.

"What the hell is that?" I stammered, stepping out from my hiding place and she jerked upwards, protectively hiding the thing behind her.

"Nothing, what are you talking about?" She stammered, her gaunt face and petrified expression saying otherwise.

"What is it?" I repeated and the alien head peered around her body on its long neck. The thing appeared to reach as high as her waist when standing.

"This is Kelarth. He's... a dragon." She explained apprehensively, but not in the slightest bit convincingly.

"A dragon. They don't exist." I breathed.

"They do. And he's one." She said firmly.

"They don't exist." I repeated, equally as firmly, trying to tell my brain to stop seeing the mythical creature before me.

"Look, do you want to meet him?" She tried to act normally but her voice was still shaking.

"Meet him?! How do I meet him, he's a mythical creature!" I shouted sarcastically.

"Stop freaking out!"

"How can I?! You've got a fucking dragon behind you!"

She rushed towards me, placing her hands on either side of my face.

"Calm down." She said softly, searching my panicked eyes. "He won't hurt you, so the only thing you're fearing is disbelief."

I took hold of her hands, slowly lowering them from my face before peering at the (now what I considered) small dragon behind her.

"You say his name's Kelarth?" I said slowly.

"Yes. There's actually an interesting story behind that name." She cautiously stepped away from me, towards her dragon and kneeled before him, motioning Kelarth towards her. He eyed me suspiciously with his amber eyes before trusting her judgement, nuzzling his face into her armpit.

"He won't hurt you." She said, gently removing his face to look at mine. "He's... a friend."

She motioned for me to approach, which I did, and I hesitantly placed my hand on the creature's head, feeling his smooth, shimmering scales beneath my palm. He looked up at me with the innocence of a small child and I started a little, unable to think why I ever feared him.

"How old is he?" I asked, kneeling beside Iris.

"About a year, I think."

"Only a year?" I said in disbelief. "He's going to get bigger."

"Yes. Huge, I imagine."

"What are you going to do then?"

"I'll set him free in the forest. He hasn't had any parents to learn from but I hope instinct will kick in. He's very smart."

Kelarth lifted his head a little and seemed to smile at Iris, proving her point.

"How on earth did you come by a dragon?" I cautiously removed my hand from his head. He still kind of freaked me out a bit.

"I inherited this egg from my grandmother." She explained. "You know, a big one with birds and stuff painted on it. It was an ugly old thing but I kept it for sentimental reasons. Then one day it tapped at me and the egg split open, revealing this little beautiful creature, helpless and so very tiny."

"So you kept it?" I asked in disbelief.

"I had to." She replied defensively. "It didn't have a mother and if I gave him away he'd just be poked and prodded by scientists. He may be mythical, but he has feelings."

"You're insane." I shook my head, grinning at her.

"I knew I had to move from my old apartment almost as soon as he hatched. It was okay when he first arrived but then he started to stretch his wings and break things and my neighbours would complain about the noise. I needed to be able to take him outside, somewhere secluded and safe, away from disbelieving eyes. And then I found this place. It was perfect."

"... So no-one else knows about your pet _dragon_."

"No-one." She affirmed before standing up and stretching her stiff legs.

"Since you know about Kelarth, do you want to come inside for tea or something?"

I consented, unable to keep my eyes off of the dragon as we moved inside. He was rather like a dog in some ways; obedient and inquisitive but obviously far cleverer than he was letting on.

We settled down with our teas and I glanced over to see what Kelarth had set out for him.

"Milk?" I questioned and Iris shrugged.

"He seems to like it. It was a bit of a roulette when he first started to eat solids. I was worried I might unintentionally kill him. So far, I haven't found anything he can't eat and he just has my leftovers now."

"It's funny, I don't remember dragons eating anything specific in the stories."

"Apart from perhaps thieves and crooks." She interjected, smiling. "That's the first place I looked, the myths. But they all contradicted each other and Kelarth seemed to be a mixture of all of them so I gave up on that eventually."

"A dragon." I repeated to myself, standing up and Iris rose with me. "I won't be able to believe this tomorrow morning."

"Then I'll just have to remind you." She grinned, following me to her door. I nodded to Kelarth who seemed to nod back minutely before awkwardly saying goodbye to Iris, walking down her path but was stopped by a hand on my elbow.

"You won't tell anyone, will you?" She asked as an afterthought but there was fear in her eyes.

"Of course not." I assured her when she suddenly pulled me into a tight hug and her hair tickled my face as I wrapped my arms tentatively around her waist.

"It feels so good to have someone know." She muttered before pulling away. "I'll see you around."

"Yeah."

* * *

 

Over the next few weeks we actually had something that resembled a normal friendship. Well, as normal a friendship you can get with a dragon in the mix. It was easy keeping it a secret, I was living alone and she didn't seem to have many friends. Not ones that she took home, at least. I saw her so often that Kelarth began to get defensive, standing in-between me and Iris and whenever I got too close he growled at me.

"He's just jealous of the attention I'm giving you." I remembered her explaining once.

Sometimes she'd invite me round for tea or I'd occasionally follow her out into the forest if I spotted that yellow raincoat. In this utopia, there was only one incident, one scare that could have ruined everything. An official-looking van pulling up outside Iris' house with the words 'pest control' emblazoned on the side, but it looked way more than just controlling vermin. My phone rang and I ran to pick it up, already walking the back way to get to Iris'.

"Take Kelarth." Were the only words muttered over the phone.

"Already on my way." I replied before she hung up. I started running, flinging open her back door before coaxing Kelarth outside. As intelligent as he was, he knew something was wrong but with some soft encouragement from Iris he eventually followed me into the forest and so Iris went to open the door for the intruders.

I tried to calm Kelarth as we went deeper and deeper into the forest in order to get to the clearing but he kept glancing back and by the time we arrived at our destination he wouldn't sit beside me, he'd only pace. I'd try to pet him but he'd only snap at me.

After a lot of agitated waiting (not helped by an agitated dragon) Iris eventually turned up, flustered but alright. She recounted the story of a suit clad lady at the door talking about the man opposite filing a report about a mythical beast. A dragon, in fact.

" _Dragon_?" Iris had said disbelievingly. The woman seemed fed up as she looked at her clipboard.

"I'm very sorry Miss but he's filed an official report." She sighed. "I have to check your property."

"Are you sure?" Iris began to get flustered.

"I'll just glance around. It's nothing to worry about."

"No problem." She hesitantly let the official woman in. Like the woman said she barely glanced through the door before apologizing and leaving.

"I didn't realise that the government had a procedure for mythical creatures." Iris grinned, sitting down beside me, calming Kelarth with reassuring words.

"Listen, Danny." She said after a short pause. "I was thinking about going on a camping trip. I thought it would be good for Kelarth to, you know, properly stretch his wings. Anyway, I'd love you to come with us. It would only be the weekend."

"Camping?"

"Yeah. You don't have to, I'm just offering." She said quickly.

I thought about how she worded it. Not just a polite invitation. _'I'd love you to come with us'_. Love.

"No. Sounds like fun." I consented quickly, not wanting my hesitation to sour the invitation. "I don't have a tent though."

"Don't worry, I've got a big one." She glanced at Kelarth. "I didn't know how big he'd get and how quickly."

"O-okay." I stuttered, trying to act as casually as she was about sharing a tent.

"Perfect. I'll talk over the details with you later, yeah?" She touched me lightly on the shoulder and I mirrored her smile as she motioned Kelarth to follow her back inside. She made it to her gate before pausing and rushing back to me, enveloping me in a tight hug.

"Thank you." She said sincerely into my ear before pulling away quickly as if she'd embarrassed herself.

"Without you, Kelarth would have been taken. So thanks." She repeated, awkwardly tapping me before rushing back to Kelarth and through her gate in an instant. Kelarth paused for a moment, looking up at me with his amber eyes before almost... nodding in approval at me then disappearing behind the gate.

Iris did confuse the hell out of me though. One minute rushing at me, the next calm and reserved with the cool exterior she shows to every other person. I wondered which one she actually was.

* * *

 

I came to her house on Saturday morning, loading my suitcase into her large car that was practically a truck where she had already put Kelarth in his crate and shoved him into the vehicle. The journey was barely longer than an hour and in a flash we were faced with lush, green fields that stretched as far as the eye could see.

"I chose somewhere secluded, a place other campers never go." Iris explained to me as we went off-road and drove through a bumpy, but thankfully sparse, forest.

"You sure it's secluded?" I asked, looking out at the natural beauty of the place. I usually didn't like nature but I sort of had to appreciate it here.

"Oh yeah. No-one comes here." She eventually pulled to a stop and I hopped out of the car, looking up at the sun filtering through the trees. "And anyway, even if someone happened to pass by, Kelarth could just hide in the trees. And then we treat them as if they're mad for seeing anything."

"You're cruel." I accused her with a lilt in my voice.

"Protective." She corrected me, going around the vehicle to open the crate. A couple of bolts later the crate was standing open but no dragon had flown out excitedly. Kelarth was crouching in the corner as if he were afraid of the light.

"He's in a mood with me. He hates the crate" She explained, trying to coax him out. "Look, Kelarth, a big forest. I know you don't like the box, but it's worth it for this, yeah?"

Cautiously, he poked his snout out of the crate and sniffed the new air before descending with a complete and utter aloofness that fit him nicely.

"He'll be like this for a while. Come on, let's pitch the tent. Although I'm not sure if we'll need it, the clear sky seems to be holding up."

After an intense struggle there was eventually a pretty sturdy looking tent standing before us. We _may_ have used the wrong parts in places but somehow it all fit together in the end. Kelarth had brightened up as we struggled with the great lumps of plastic, uncharacteristically laughing at us even after I threw several spikes at him which he managed to avoid effortlessly.

"Right, that's over." Iris sighed before turning to Kelarth. "Do you want to go for a fly?"

Kelarth practically lit up, eyes bright as he soared into the air, exploring his new surroundings and stretching his great wings. Iris laughed and ran to keep up with him, struggling to keep him in sight and I barrelled after her, trying to keep up with _her_. Suddenly, when I was about to give up and turn to go back to the tent she doubled back, running away from Kelarth, fast, as if she were scared of him. As she passed me she gripped my hand like it was the most ordinary thing in the world and I lurched after her, keeping up with her grip until we reached the tent, out of breath and red in the face.

"Sorry." She gasped, releasing my hand. "Kelarth was hunting and I can't stand the noise of crunching bones."

"Hunting?"

"He's going to have to do more of it soon. I won't be able to afford to feed him." She giggled, straightening up. "Do you want to go for a walk?"

"Sure. Just... no running, yeah?"

"I quite agree." She said, beginning to trek into the forest and I followed after her. After some time Kelarth caught up with us and I started back as he walked next to Iris; instead of reaching up to her waist like when I first met him he'd now grown to around her shoulder. He was getting bigger by the _second_.

"Are you telling us to head back?" She asked Kelarth who was pulling at her sleeve.

"Why not. It's getting late anyway." I could feel my stomach ready to rumble though I inwardly begged it not to.

"Okay. I guess we'll have dinner when we get there. Kelarth has already eaten." She scolded him and he looked back sheepishly.

Something dawned on me on the way back; Kelarth was actually being nice to me. I wondered whether the 'pest control' incident was to do with the fact that he didn't growl at me anymore and seemed perfectly fine for me to walk next to Iris which he never would have allowed before. I brought this up to her.

"I told you, he's clever. He can't bear a grudge on someone who saved his life."

"I wouldn't go that far."

"I would." She stared at me earnestly with her witchy green eyes and I felt she was thanking me with that look more than Kelarth with his kindness.

We ate an unceremonious meal as the sky darkened around us and Iris built the fire up, not wanting it to go out just as the darkness was enclosing around us.

“The tent seems a bit grim when it’s such a pleasant night.” She commented after sitting back down.

“Yeah.” I agreed with her mindlessly, wondering where she was going with this.

“We could sleep outside, if you wanted.”

“Alright.” I agreed after a minor hesitation. It wouldn’t make much of a difference inside or out on a night like this.

“Perfect.” She smiled, rootling round in the tent for our blankets which she passed out to me and I set them out onto the floor.

We both changed behind a tree in turn, she went first so when I returned I saw her already lying down, her head propped against Kelarth’s soft flank and her limbs tangled in a blanket. I went about trying to manoeuvre my bedding away as I hadn’t factored in the addition of a dragon but she opened her eyes as I tried to do so.

“Sleep here.” She yawned, sleepily padding the space beside her. “Kelarth is surprisingly comfortable. He doesn’t mind.”

I’d already made it this far, I argued with myself, before re-organising my bedding so it rested closer to his rump than his flank. Iris appeared to already be asleep as I settled myself and looked at the stars to calm me before my gaze wondered to the sleeping woman beside me. She was rather beautiful. When we were with each other I had to ignore it otherwise it would just make everything awkward, but lying beside her I was able to fully explore her features, her red hair standing out strikingly against her pale skin and her mouth parted slightly as she slept.

Something moved in my peripheral vision and I looked up to see Kelarth was still awake and was staring at me staring at Iris. As embarrassed as I would be if a human saw me staring, I flushed and looked away, pretending to be asleep. Then I felt his muscles shift beneath me and I opened my eyes as I slowly slid closer to Iris. Kelarth was looking at me mischievously and I couldn’t help but grin back as I reverted to my original position on his rump. He did it again though, and again, until I was forced to move my blanket beside her and rested my head on his flank.

“You happy now?” I breathed, not wanting to wake Iris, and he nodded, closing his eyes and resting his head so that his neck curled protectively around her. I shook my head, leaning back to stare at the stars again. Never would I have predicted that a _dragon_ would have started being my wingman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't mean to end it in a pun.


	2. Chapter 2

We were both abruptly woken by the dragon beneath us shifting to a standing position, stretching his limbs while we both groaned in protest. Then Iris just started giggling.

“Sorry. He’s so impatient.” She stuttered between laughing. I couldn’t help myself from smiling also.

“It’s alright, we should be getting up anyway.” I said, gesturing to the blue sky and sun already beating down on us.

“Yeah.” She rose to a sitting position. “Did you sleep alright?”

“Surprisingly, yes.” I commented, starting to bundle up my bedding in my arms.

“I know what you mean. I feel as though there should have been a mosquito invasion or a sudden thunderstorm as we were so exposed.”

“Yes.” I said idly, deciding not to mention that the only reason I slept well was because I was in such close proximity to her, listening to the sound of her even breathing to lull me to sleep.

“We’ll head home later. What do you want to do before we leave?” She asked me.

I shrugged, continuing to fold up my stuff.

“I saw a lake when we were walking yesterday.” She said, and when I looked to her she raised an eyebrow.

“A lake?”

“Yes. Fancy a swim?” She grinned cheekily at me and while she was excited, my stomach dropped. That’s the last thing I needed after watching her all night, slowly realising that I probably liked her more than just friends.

“I didn’t bring a bathing suit.” I said quickly, hoping that that would get me out of it.

“That’s fine, I didn’t either.”

“Are you seriously suggesting skinny dipping?” I asked her, grinning in disbelief.

“God, no.” She spoke quickly, a blush spreading across her cheeks. “But underwear is alright, isn’t it?”

“You’re crazy.”

“So are you.” She retorted, sticking her tongue out at me.

“… I suppose I am.” I consented reluctantly and she clapped her hands excitedly.

“Right, let’s pack up the van, have a quick swim then head home.”

We set about taking down the tent, which Kelarth enjoyed almost as much as us putting it up. Only, as we were taking it down random pieces of the tent flew everywhere and we realised we had only half the pieces we started with.

“It was useless anyway.” Iris muttered mock-angrily, tossing away another piece which Kelarth obediently fetched and brought back to her.

“Thanks.” She said absently, taking the piece from his mouth. She pushed her hair behind her ears and my heart sputtered slightly; I was definitely in too deep if I was affected by the simplest of movements.

We packed up the van with the rest of our kit, leaving the crate open to coax Kelarth inside after our swim, before following the same path we had yesterday to find that lake. It was easily to spot, and soon we were standing in front of the murky water, the long grass tickling our ankles as we both stared at the lake.

“That’s going to be _cold_.” I observed.

“Yes.” She said matter-of-factly. “Last one in’s a rotten egg!”

She started stripping next to me after using that childish chant with an enthusiasm that I couldn’t help but catch, taking my own clothes off with the same vigour. Both of us ran into the water, shrieking and squealing as the freezing water washed over our bodies, Iris the first one to brave it and submerge herself entirely.

She then popped up and turned to me, splashing me right in the face while she giggled evilly.  

“Why you little…” I muttered, before splashing her myself, Kelarth making excited noises as he flew around our heads, avoiding the splashes of water aimed at him.

“Does he not like water?” I asked Iris once we had both calmed down significantly, out of breath and completely soaked through.

“I think he just prefers the air.” She shrugged, treading the water.

Kelarth continued to fly around us, circling like an eagle before flying off to explore the forest on his own.

“You were right, it really is cold.” Iris said eventually, and she was right as when I saw her face her lips were starting to turn blue. “I think I’ve had my swim”

She paddled to the waterside, getting herself up onto the bank with me following shortly behind her. I hadn’t actually seen her stripped down as I had been in such a hurry to get into the water, but now I saw her, in only her bra and pants, slim and delicate and shaking from the cold.

“I obviously didn’t think this through.” She giggled anxiously, obviously noticing my eyes fixed on her and her exposed body. Only, when I looked up, I noticed that she had difficulty keeping her eyes fixed on my face.

“Here.” I approached her, rubbing her shoulders fiercely in an attempt to warm her up. It was only then when I realised just how close we were; her chest was inches from my own and her face was at an intoxicating angle, looking up at my own. Her face was covered in moist water droplets, making her face appear to glow in the morning sun and her hair was matted and dark from the water.

I thought I was dreaming when she leaned forward, angling her head up to my own. Dream or not, I may as well take advantage of this opportunity. I leaned down, impulsively capturing my lips onto her own. She was tentative, anxious even, as she kissed me and I deepened the kiss, wrapping my hand around the back of her neck, pulling her closer to me. I felt resistance against my palm, however, and slowly released her to see her with an uncertain look on her face. We stood, staring at each other by the lakeside, both dripping wet and neither of us speaking a word.

“… I should see where Kelarth got to.” She said softly, reaching down to pick up her clothes and heading back towards our camp. I continued standing, staring after her. Where had I gone wrong? Had I read the situation incorrectly? Perhaps I had just been seeing what I wanted to see…

Then Kelarth fluttered down beside me, nudging my hand with his forehead. I patted his forehead half-heartedly.

“I don’t think it’s going to happen, buddy. Sorry.”

I returned to the camp to find Iris already dressed. She handed me a towel and I re-dressed myself too. It was now so awkward, it was hardly bearable. And no matter what I told myself, I still had feelings for her.

We both had to coax Kelarth into the crate. And when I say coax, I mean shove, He really didn’t like that thing so we had to force him into it and once he was inside he huddled into a corner and sulked as we bolted the lid shut.

The journey home was awkward. Any attempt at conversation was forced, even though we were both trying to make it like how it was before. When we were relatively close to home, I suddenly remembered something she’d told me when I first met Kelarth.

“You told me Kelarth’s name meant something a while ago. What does it mean?”

She smiled idly, taking her eyes off of the road momentarily to glance at me.

“I’m surprised you remembered” She grinned, obviously having remembered herself. “I used to visit my grandmother who lived in wales when I was a child. She lived in this place called Llangeler, where there was a church dedicated to this Catholic saint, Saint Gelert. Also known as Kellarth.”

She glanced at me out of the side of her eyes. When I didn’t say anything, she continued.

“He was a hermit, apparently.” She shrugged. “I don’t quite know why I named Kelarth after him. Perhaps it’s nostalgia. I was thinking of my grandmother when I named him.”

“Do you miss her?” I asked impulsively. She looked taken aback by my question, and took a while to answer it.

“I suppose so. I think about her every day, but it’s been so long now…”

She trailed off and we didn’t talk again until we arrived at our homes. I helped her unpack Kelarth and the other bits of kit before awkwardly saying goodbye.

“I’ll see you around.” I said, standing in her doorway.

“Yeah.” She smiled before I turned and made my way into the solitude of my own home.

* * *

 

It took two days before I returned to her house, convincing myself that I was busy with work, when in reality I was avoiding her. I didn’t know our relationship now; was it back to normal? Would we have to work through this tension?

I stood in front of her door, trying to talk myself into _just knocking you idiot_ then I just reached up and knocked before I could have any second thoughts. Iris opened the door, her face brightening the moment she saw me.

“Danny. What are you doing here?”

“Do you mind if I come in?”

She shook her head, stepping back to admit me into her home.

“We kinda have to talk.” I said, wringing my hands together. Iris pursed her lips, turning her head away.

“… I want to know how you feel.” I asked earnestly. “It’s taken me a while, but I think I finally know how I feel about you.”

“Danny…” Iris exhaled, still not looking at me.

“Don’t try to avoid this.” I urged. “You’re awfully good at that. Avoiding difficult conversations.”

She looked perturbed by this comment, but did make eye-contact with me, crossing her arms over her chest insecurely before nodding.

“I only realized this the other day, but I do… fancy you. I just didn’t acknowledge it before, I guess. So caught up with the whole ‘dragon’ thing.” I smirked and she smiled back nervously. “That’s why I kissed you by the lake. I’m sorry if I was too presumptuous, I was just so taken with the new revelation that I got… carried away.”

“No. It… I…” She floundered, waving her arms around her head before speaking firmly. “I fancy you too.”

My heart skipped in my chest; there was still a chance. She did like me in that way. Suddenly my future seemed much brighter, the colours around me more intense and Iris so close and tangible.

“Then why did you…?”

“Now it’s my turn to apologize.” She said quickly. “It was just a little… overwhelming. I realize now what it seemed like to you, and I never meant to offend you. I really do… like you.”

“Shall we try this again then?” I asked softly, approaching her until we were as close as we were that day by the lake, her face flushed and anxious.

She nodded wordlessly and I gripped the back of her head, inclining her head towards mine. I kissed her gently, trying not to overwhelm her again, easing her in slowly as she reached up and wrapped her hand around my neck. Then a creak came from behind us; Kelarth watching us from the now open doorway. I laughed against Iris’ lips and she smiled too

“You clever boy, you”

So we started dating, which was easy as we were living so close to one another. I started practically living at her place, with Kelarth growing around us. But we were all happy. I had never been so in love.


	3. Chapter 3

We both stood in the forest, our arms wrapped around each other as we stared at her- _our_ dragon, towering over us with a mournful look on his face. He knew the day had come too. He had always been clever.

Iris outstretched her arms, and Kelarth bent his head so she could wrap her arms around his snake-like neck. Her tears fell silently on his shimmering scales, but she wiped them away when she let go and Kelarth bumped his head against her cheek to tell her it was okay. She giggled, patting the side of his head.

“You will visit us, won’t you darling?” She asked him and he tipped his head slightly, indicating the affirmative.

“’Course he will.” I assured her, and Kelarth abruptly turned his head to me.

He stared at me with such intensity, such fierceness, that I felt I knew every word he was trying to tell me; Protect her within an inch of your life. Care for her while I’m gone. And if you hurt her I _will_ find you and I _will_ kill you.

“I know mate. I’ll miss you too.” I said, surprisingly sober. Events like this didn’t usually touch me, but now I felt very close to tears myself.

Kelarth tipped his head before nodding and I held my hand out, placing my palm against his head, closing my eyes and feeling his scales shift.

“Goodbye.” I choked out. Then Kelarth pulled away, giving us both reassuring glances before stretching out his enormous wings. Iris and I put our arms around each other again, her ginger hair whipping around her face as Kelarth bathed us in cool air, rising higher and higher before disappearing into the very clouds themselves.


End file.
